1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring surface texture, such as a Coordinate Measuring Machine for measuring displacement with a tip, as well as a method and program for measuring surface texture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, apparatuses for measuring surface texture are known to be arranged to scan a tip on a surface of a workpiece to measure surface texture of the workpiece based on contact of the tip with the surface of the workpiece (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-178646). The apparatuses for measuring surface texture include, for example, a Coordinate Measuring Machine and a two-dimensional measuring instrument.
Generally, conventional apparatuses for measuring surface texture perform, so-called, “scanning measurement” where a path to be scanned is determined in advance for measurement. For example, such paths used in the scanning measurement include those figures including a single straight line, circle, circular arc, or continuous lines and circular arcs. Besides, the scanning measurement may be performed to any circles or circular arcs mentioned above as long as the workpiece may be approximated in a circular manner within a range where the tip can be displaced, even if they are not completely round in shape.
However, when the above-mentioned line and circle are used in the scanning measurement, such schemes are employed in determination of scanning velocity of the tip beginning at the end of a path for scanning to trace the path, provided that the scheme stops at the end of the path. This means that it is necessary to process information for all paths at a time. Therefore, it is not possible to initiate measurement during the process, which could take a large amount of time for measurement.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus, method and program for measuring surface texture that may achieve faster measurement.